A 120mph ’46 Sedanette

In the 1950’s, Rod & Custom Magazine did a series of road tests on a number of different Hot Rods and Customs. Through these tests, they’d measure things such as zero-to-60 times, breaking, top speed, etc… It was cool because these were tests that were typically reserved for new cars and presented by publications like Motor Life. Through their own tests, Rod & Custom was essentially allowing the reader to compare the performance between the new cars from Detroit and the hot rods/customs being built by kids with a little ingenuity.

It was brilliant… And something we need more of.

In any case, the February of 1955 issue featured a Valley Custom built 1946 Cadillac powered by a blown late model overhead. The combination was stout enough to take the heavy bitch to 60 mph in just 8.9 seconds and 120 mph on some long desert highway. Yeah, the article mentions that the test went down on Motor Life’s “proving grounds,” but it’s pretty obvious from the photography that they just took the car out to the desert and gave it hell – highway patrol be damned.